The New LC Usage-Based Threat List [PLEASE CONTRIBUTE]

In this project we're going to create a threatlist ordered by usage rather than alphabetically to help newer players get into the tier. This threatlist is going to go on the LC hub to serve as an introduction to this tier! Each entry will consist of describing what sets the Pokemon can run, what niche it has in Little Cup, and how it can help your team.

To keep things simple, just take the next mon on the list not taken by the person posting above you. The ones towards the top are obviously higher priority because they are the highest usage. Anyway, try to keep the posts in usage order, it will make things easier...

Mienfoo maintains #1 usage due to a combination of its excellent ability, Regenerator, access to U-turn and Fake Out, and ability to check many threats in the metagame such as Scraggy and Pawniard. Mienfoo takes physical attacks very well and can last throughout the game with the recovery of Regenerator and Drain Punch while supporting its team with Knock Off. Mienfoo is commonly used as a lead because it does well against many common threats, uses Fake Out to flinch the opponent and scout for its item, can Knock Off opponents' Eviolites, and U-turn against anything it matches up poorly with. It often functions as "glue" for a team and indeed fits in well on nearly every type of team, from defensive teams needing a Scraggy check to offensive teams needing a bulkier Pokemon that can still maintain momentum.

Mienfoo can also play in a more offensive fashion, dealing heavy damage with Hi Jump Kick and Stone Edge for coverage, and can viably carry a Life Orb or even a Choice Scarf to allow it to revenge kill. This Pokemon is one of the more versatile Pokemon in Little Cup and can fill several different roles your team may need.

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list of mons(Move your mouse to reveal the content)list of mons (open)list of mons (close)

Don't add too much fluff: only what is necessary to let the reader know what that Pokemon does in Little Cup and why it has the usage that it has. Mienfoo is one of the more versatile Pokemon in Little Cup, hence its comparatively long entry.

Be sure to mention other Pokemon in the tier that affect its usage / give it a niche in Little Cup; I mentioned Scraggy in Mienfoo's case as Mienfoo is one of the best Scraggy checks in the tier. For another Pokemon such as Abra, you could point out the high usage of Fighting-types such as Mienfoo as a reason why Abra is used so much in addition to its other useful traits.

Be smart about the "Roles:" thing; it should be a summary in two or three words of what that Pokemon does on a team. The roles listed for Mienfoo are kind of vague, but that's because it's so versatile; for a Pokemon such as Hippopotas, its roles will be more clear: Physically Defensive and Sand setter.

I'm sure LC C&C members will point out things I'm doing wrong so listen to them.

Now here is the format:

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Not doing anything for right now, but just wanting to point something out:

This is going to be an unbiased representation of these Pokemon's abilities. Not each Pokemon has too much going for it, so do not add endless amounts of fluff trying to turn it into something it's not. While I will be the first to admit it's not gold, please refer to the information I put in the LC threat list in the guide. Note what I wrote is not necessarily the most wordy; that is because not every Pokemon is viable enough to be written that much. The distinction between this project and the guide I put is that in I was merely trying to showcase what each Pokemon can do. In this, please follow Woodchuck's guidelines while also mentioning specific Pokemon, play styles, etc that each individual offensive Pokemon walls, or which each defensive Pokemon can check or handle. Explain how, and with what. We want these to be concise, yet very specific.

Do not question the usage of these Pokemon. Anything beyond purely informative writing is beyond the scope of this guide. Anything questioning the usage, analyzing the usage, or explaining the phenomena that caused such usage will be handled by iss and myself in a Smog article. These two pieces are highly different; don't try to mingle them.

Likewise, we are obviously not going down all the way through the usage stats. We will determine where we stop (and what we skip) as this project progresses, as the current list of Pokemon can be changed. This is a very labor intensive Letter so we hope for much collaboration.

Moderator

I've moved this to the Little Cup subforum, because being a hub project it made more sense for it to be here than in the letters section (which it will be too long for) or the articles sections (where not many Little Cup players will look). Despite the fact that this is going in the hub, it could also potentially go in the articles section as a replacement for the outdated threatlist we currently have though. Hopefully we can get this done somewhat quickly, since Gen 5's days are numbered at this point.

Abra is one of the hardest-hitting special attackers in Little Cup. Base 105 Special Attack and 90 Speed allows Abra to speed tie with common pokemon such as Murkrow and Misdreavus, while also tying for the highest special attack in the tier. However, it is mainly used as a revenge killer because of his ability: Magic Guard; Abra is guaranteed to never receive residual damage from stealth rock, spikes, weather or status inflictions! Paired with a focus sash, Abra is guaranteed to always survive one hit, giving it the ability revenge kill dangerous threats like Riolu and Drillbur.
With Pokémon like Mienfoo, Riolu and Timburr running around, Abra is a top choice for a psychic-type in a team. His most common set, with a focus sash, consist of Psychic for a hard-hitting STAB, Shadow Ball and Hidden Power Fighting for perfect coverage, and protect to scout choice scarf attackers, stall for risidual damage, and protect itself from priority. Abra can also use a Life Orb and inflict even more damage without any drawbacks, however this set isn't used often because of focus sash's utility.
Abra's defenses are incredibly weak, making it die to any strong STAB attack; however, with a focus sash it is still one of the best revenge killers in the tier and a threatening special attacker.

Abra is one of the hardest-hitting special attackers in Little Cup. Base 105 Special Attack and 90 Speed allow it to tie with pokémons such as Misdreavus and Murkrow, and have enough firepower to 2HKO bulky pokémons such as Misdreavus! allows Abra to speed tie with common pokemon such as Murkrow and Misdreavus, while also tying for the highest special attack in the tier.However, it is mainly used as a revenge killer because of his ability: Magic Guard.; if he's holding a focus sash,Abra is guaranteed to never receive residual damage from stealth rock, spikes, weather or status inflictions! This means he's guaranteed to always have a hit on the opposing pokémon, and if he's faster, even two, which is always enough to KO the foe.Paired with a focus sash, Abra is guaranteed to always survive one hit, giving it the ability revenge kill dangerous threats like Riolu and Drillbur.
With all thePokemon like Mienfoos, CroagunksRiolu, and Timburrs running around, Abra is thea top 1 choice for a psychic-type in a team. His classic set most common set, holdingwith a focus sash, consist of Psychic for a hard-hitting STAB, Shadow Ball and Hidden Power Fighting for perfect coverage, and protect to dodge Mienfoo's Fake Out scout choice scarf attackers, stall for risidual damage, and protect itself from priority. Abra can howeveralso he can sometimes takeuse a Life Orb and inflict even more damage than he couldwithout any drawbacks:, howeverbutthese kind ofthis setsaren'tisn't really used often because ofdue to Abra's defensesfocus sash's utility.Ah, these defenses. Let's talk about them. 25 base HP and 15 base Defense are really low, even for Little Cup's standards, meaning he'll probably die to every physical hit. His Special Defense, even if higher, still means he'll die to super effective hits. However, it doesn't mean Abra can't do his job: act as one of the best revenge killers and destroy nearly every single fighting-type in the tier. Abra's defenses are incredibly weak, making it die to any strong STAB attack; however, with a focus sash it is still one of the best revenge killers in the tier and a threatening special attacker.

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so add blue delete red. that wasnt bad at all, some of it was just awkwardly written and wasnt indepth enough i would say. feel free to ignore some of the grammar corrections i made besides the last para. you wrote way too much for what you were trying to say lol.

Drilbur is one of the most popular Pokemon in Little Cup as it is one of the most threatening sweepers in the tier. This is due to its ability, Sand Rush, which doubles its speed in sandstorm, out-speeding all choice scarf users. Not only is it extremely fast in sandstorm it also has a large base 85 attack stat allowing it to hit very hard.

Most commonly Drilbur will either run an all-out attacking set with a life orb or a swords dance set. A 4 attacks set uses Earthquake as a powerful STAB attack, Rock Slide to hit Murkrow and other flying types, Shadow Claw for Misdreavus and X-Scissor to damage grass types that would otherwise wall it. Alternatively, it can forgo a coverage move for Rapid Spin to provide team support. If it is running Swords Dance, Drilbur generally uses eviolite to ease set-up. However with eviolite it cannot hit as hard off the bat and will often have to wait until some of its checks and counters are removed before sweeping. These pokemon include Snover, Choice Scarf Porygon and Bronzor.

Drilbur can be used outside of sand as an offensive Rapid Spinner. These variants use Mold Breaker to hit Pokemon with Levitate, such as Bronzor and Misdreavus, with Earthquake. It also carries Stealth Rock. As the only viable Pokemon to have both Stealth Rock and Rapid Spin, Drilbur has a great niche as an offensive utility Pokemon.

Probably needs a lot of grammar editing and I'm not sure if I've been too 'fluffy' or whatever. Just tell me where I've gone wrong.

Timburr is an incredibly powerful threat in the metagame that everyone needs to take into consideration. Timburr has a lot of power to it together with great bulk making it an incredible powerhouse in the Little Cup metagame. It also has access to Bulk Up which increases its Bulk and power to humongous levels and turns Timburr to an extreme threat. It's only problem is it's poor speed which is somewhat mitigated with its powerful Mach Punch. Timburr also doesn't mind status as its ability Guts allows it to increase its Attack by 50% once it gets status. To add even more on that, it is very durable as it longevity is increased thanks to Bulk Up boosted Drain Punches. Also, Timburr has great coverage in the form of Payback which gives it near unresisted coverage. Timburr also has a lot of help in teambuilding offering a scraggy check and can revenge kill weakened foes or Shell Smashers.

Hippopotas's sheer bulk and amazing ability in Sand Stream make it one of the best Pokemon in LC. Sand Stream is so amazing in Little Cup that it forms an entire playstyle, based around using the Speed boosts that it provides to Drilbur and Sandshrew to overwhelm teams with their powerful STAB Earthquakes. Sand Stream is also amazing for the residual damage it applies, making it even more difficult to set up on the sturdy Hippopotas. It also has amazing physical bulk, among the best in the metagame, which allows it to easily switch in on set-up sweepers such as Timburr and Scraggy in dire situations. Reliable recovery in Slack Off allows the hippo to take on many onslaughts during a match.

Little Cup Co-Leader

Timburr is an incredibly powerful threat in the metagame that everyone needs to take into consideration. Timburr has a lot of power to it together with great bulk making it an incredible powerhouse in the Little Cup metagame. It also has access to Bulk Up which increases its Bulk and power to humongous levels and turns Timburr to an extreme threat. It's only problem is it's poor speed which is somewhat mitigated with its powerful Mach Punch. Timburr also doesn't mind status as its ability Guts allows it to increase its Attack by 50% once it gets status. Also, Timburr has great coverage in the form of Payback which gives it near unresisted coverage.

Tell me if this is too short I can expound on it if you need me to.

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Personally I think 'tank' should be one of the roles. Probs wait to see what the LC C&C say about that though. Also mention what it does well against. Great Scraggy counter, beats Lileep, maybe mention how mach punch allows it to beat stuff like Shell Smash Tirtouga and Snover among other things. Maybe mention how it's not as weak to Misdreavus as Mienfoo? idk about that last point though ask C&C. Also you haven't mentioned Drain Punch and how it increases its longevity.

Tehy, I've tried to add in your changes, they were extremely hard to work out what they meant due to lack of colour. I thought that nature would be going into too much detail for a threatlist personally. Also, iss told me to add the counters to the pokemon, although that was not mentioned by Blara or Woodchuck in the OP and no-one else has done so far. Should I still do this and if so, whereabouts should I put it?
EDIT: never mind I found a place to mention them briefly.

put only like really really major counters if you want, though i dont really see the need to it. natures are definately a no lol. thats what an analysis is for. bulky physical attacker is good for timburr.

Moderator

Shellder’s role in Little Cup stems from its excellent base defence (boosted even further by Eviolite), Skill Link and access to possibly one of the best boosting moves in the game, Shell Smash. After a single boost, it can out speed all non-boosted pokѐmon in the metagame and KO a good portion of them with one of its 2 (effectively) 125 base power moves in Icicle Spear and Rock Blast. It also gets Ice Shard making it a decent revenge killer.
However, getting the boost is difficult so before you send Shellder into battle, it’s vital you eliminate all of the things that Shellder can’t muscle through. Chinchou, Porygon and any steel type can ruin Shellder’s day as even with the Smash boost, can survive the hit and retaliate with an appropriate move (Chinchou, Porygon and Magnemite can also hit it super effectively on its weaker defensive stat.)

With a incredible 19 speed set and a huge special moveset, Staryu has everything it needs to be a top special attacker in Little Cup. Add to that the fastest Rapid Spin in the tier, and it is clear why Staryu is one of the best and most used Little Cup Pokemon. It is often seen running a specially offensive set, with either a Life Orb or Eviolite. With powerful stab moves in Surf and Hydro pump, along with the classic Bolt-Beam coverage, Staryu can easily tear through weakened teams. Its ability to Rapid Spin is, of course, a boon to Staryu, making it a great teammate for Pokemon like Murkrow and Rapidash. It also has some other coverage options, such as Blizzard and Thunder to power up its coverage, along with moves like Power Gem, Flash Cannon and the very valuable Psychic, allowing it to both fill niche roles on many teams and surprise its counters with super-effective attacks.

In an enviroment dominated by Fighting-types, Defensive Rock-types are quite uncommon. Lileep stands out as one of those few lucky enough to be used consistently in the tier. Its typing, abilities and stats let this little weed function as a prominent special sponge who can wall prominent threats in the Little Cup Metagame such as Misdreavus, Staryu and Chinchou. With Storm Drain, Lileep often finds its niche in Sand teams preventing the opposing teams to throw Water-type attacks, benefitting from weather doubling its already big Special Bulk and forming a strong defensive core with Hippopotas. Its ability to counter the most used Rapid Spin users, Staryu and Drilbur, is also a great asset for balanced and defensive teams. You will often find Lileep running a set with AncientPower absolutly walling and threatening Murkrow, a feat most Pokemon can't accomplish. Lileep is also a great supporter often carrying Stealth Rock or Toxic in an attempt to stall opposing teams. Lileep is a one-trick pony but it excels at its defensive role.

Scraggy is undoubtedly one of the most dangerous sweepers in the tier and most teams tend to carry a dedicated counter, such as Mienfoo. After one Dragon Dance Scraggy can out-speed every unboosted Pokemon in the tier and rip through teams with its STAB moves which, together, are only resisted by Croagunk. Drain Punch and Crunch are the two main attacking moves it will use with the final slot usually being either Zen Headbutt, to beat Croagunk with, or Hi-Jump Kick which is appealing due to its large damage output. Most Scraggy will use Shed Skin as the ability of choice which prevents Burn and Paralysis being an issue, but Moxie is another good choice to make it almost unstoppable after one KO. Eviolite is the most common item as it would be very difficult to set up otherwise, but it sometimes uses a Life Orb for the extra power. Aside from the Dragon Dance set, the only other set which you might see is a Scarf Moxie set which works great as a late game sweeper.

Bronzor is one of the bulkiest pokemon in LC thanks to it's incredible 57/86/86 defenses. It also sports great defensive typing, only being weak to fire-type moves if it is running Levitate or Ground type moves if it is running Heatproof. Because of its fantastic defensive capabilities it is a popular choice to check pokemon such as Drilbur, Croagunk and Snover, as well as being a great candidate to set up Stealth Rock. Aside from Stealth Rock, Bronzor will mostly run 2 from Earthquake, Flash Cannon and Psychic and either Toxic or Hypnosis for status. A much more rare Bronzor set utilises an Oran Berry and Recycle to act as a source of semi-reliable recovery, but an eviolite offers much more bulk. Due to Bronzor's abysmal offenses and lack of reliable recovery it is often a sitting duck against set-up sweepers such as Scraggy, Misdreavus and even Dratini. Despite walling a large portion of the metagame, it often struggles to make an impact to the game outside of Stealth Rock and can be a liability to teams that carry the aforementioned set-up sweepers.

Chinchou is a very unique Pokemon in Little Cup due to its unique Water/Electric typing. With this great defensive typing and fantastic ability in Volt Absorb, Chinchou is a great choice for any team that wants to check Flying, Water and Electric types such as Murkrow, Staryu and Magnemite. It also has access to Heal Bell which is a great move for any team that is vulnerable to status. Chinchou almost always utilises an eviolite to make the most of its natural special bulk as well as making its physical bulk respectable. With eviolite, it can either run a more offensive set with 4 attacks or 3 attacks and Heal Bell, or it could run a defensive RestTalk set to give it a form of recovery. The most common attacks Chinchou will run are Hydro Pump, Volt Switch, Thunderbolt and a Hidden Power, most commonly grass to hit other Chinchou. If it is running Rest and Sleep Talk then the other two moves will be two from Heal Bell, Scald and Discharge. Another common set for Chinchou is a Choice Scarf. This work great as it has access to Volt Switch to keep momentum when the opponent doesn't have a Ground type or opposing Chinchou and it can often create Volt-turn chains with other users. Finally Chinchou can run an Agility set to attempt a late game sweep, but it generally doesn't have the power to pull this off.